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Emerson Knives - production model CQC7

M

marco

Joined
Oct 3, 1998
Messages
148
my local dealer just got a few of these production CQC7's in. i had the opportunity to handle them for quite a while today and i have a few comments.
first of all, if i didn't kno who Emerson was, and of his past relationship with BM, i would have thought that these Emerson cqc7's were cheap imitations of the BM knife. honestly, if his logo was not on the blade, i would have thought "rip-off BM cqc7"!
the liner lock was VERY thin on these knives. i inspected 3 cqc7's and none of them locked up well. the very thin liner did not fully contact the tang on any of the 3. it connected about halfway up the liner on all of them, leaving 1/2 of th liner not contacting the tang. on a liner this thin, i would think that this was dangerous.
the feel of the Emerson's was not as solid as the BM's. i did like the g-10 better, but all together i might pay $50-$60 for one of these knives. their quality is about equal to CRKT, in my opinion. Doesn't even compare to BM's CQC7. the dealer was asking about $130. a rip-off, IMO. anyone else seen any of these? any comments?

marco

 
I disagree. I think they are at least the equal of the Benchmade models. The blade stock is slightly thicker. The liner is the same gauge of titanium that Benchmade used. I have a benchmade and an Emerson in front of me and looking at them both,I can't see how anyone would call the Emerson inferior in any way. I haven't taken either one apart and there may be some differences there, but they surely are not obvious. See the page at:
http://www.knifecenter.com/knifecenter/emerson/menu.html with links there to images of both knives next to each other.
 
the liners appeared to look much thinner to me, but i could be wrong. one thing is for sure, though, is that none of the 3 knives that i individually examined, locked up well at all. the liner did not fully engage the tang on any of the knives, and on one of them, i had to swing the blade open forcefully, just to get the liner to engage the tang somewhat safely. when i opened it gently, the blade closed with slight hand pressure to the spine of the blade. this is not safe, imo.
i personally prefer the BM knife to the Emerson, but this is just personal preference - i am sure that many will prefer the Emerson. (i really like the thicker stock on the Emerson). my point was, that the 3 that i examined were all unsafe. but again, i might be biased because i really can't stand liner locks anymore and will never buy another.
i almost forgot - on one of the Emerson's, when the knife was closed, the blade was not fully enclosed by the scales. the tip of the tanto blade stuck out and would easily cut the user of the knife. i noticed this when i tried to hold the knife in my fist and was poked. luckily, i wasn't holding the knife too tight.


marco

[This message has been edited by marco (edited 07 January 1999).]
 
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